Sunday, April 22, 2018

Q: Take the name of a famous film director. Drop the first letter of this person's first name and you'll name a fish. Read the last name backward and you'll name another fish. What film director is it?

152 comments:

Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any hints that could lead directly to the answer (e.g. via a chain of thought, or an internet search) before the deadline of Thursday at 3pm ET. If you know the answer, click the link and submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't give the answer away. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the Thursday deadline. Thank you.

Bonus puzzle: The director in the answer shares a first name with another director who made a movie involving some scary critters. The director in the answer also shares a last name with another director who made a movie involving a furry critter. What are these movies?

Answer to this weeks puzzle is Spike Lee. The director who shared a first name with Spike Lee is Spike Jonze who made the movie with scarry critters, Where the Wild Things Are. The director who shares a last name is Ang Lee who made a movie about a furry critter, Life of Pi.

Thanks to Dan Ezekiel for his fine puzzle this week, and to Will Shortz for choosing it. I typed my answer for the director, and then both fish, into Blaine's search engine and nothing came up. Congratulations to Dan.

I learned recently that WS does much editing of the clues in his NYT crossword puzzles that appear 365 days a year; sometimes as many as 90% of the clues the constructor submits are rewritten! That takes time. He makes personal appearances; he publishes books of puzzles galore; he does the NPR Sunday gig; he plays table tennis when he has time. Will Shortz's sheer output of puzzledom is proof, to me anyway, that he does not coast. I respect that.

I also respect the diversity of opinion of all posters on this blog (and I respect Blaine, for giving us this platform). I know some of us have criticized Will and his NPR Sunday puzzle for being repetitious, too easy, not allowing for alternative answers, too anagram-heavy, etc. I know WS only through my puzzle-submission email correspondence, but I get the distinct impression that he is a really decent person. That's my opinion, but it is somewhat informed.

I thank all Blainesvillians, who over the past 4 years have been very respectful of my feelings regarding my Puzzleria! blog. Any criticisms have always been constructive. It is obviously not every Blainevillian's cup of tea. I do it for the fun of it, and for the small following of folks who post on it or lurk.

If Will Shortz stopped feeding us a weekly NPR puzzle, my life would be a bit less sunny. I believe others here might agree with that sentiment.

Sorry man, not buying the idol thing. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right. I don’t keep eating at restaurants with mediocre food or keep buying products that fail to exceed my expectations because I know the staffs work hard. I’ve certainly stopped buying things and cancelled subscriptions because the “product” went downhill. I used to be a generous sustaining member of my local NPR station but now I give directly to certain shows that have maintained a high quality. Too many local stations have cut back. So WS is busy. So what, everybody’s busy. He’s probably got dozens of people he could take on as collaborators if his ego would allow it, and give the Sunday Puzzlers really great challenges to chew on every week. We don’t get better challenges because he can’t, but he simply chooses to recycle and toss out these simple ones. It’s completely his choice, but it’s also just another reason for members to shrug at fundraisers.

LegoI was amused by the timing of your preemptive strike on behalf of the Puzzlemaster.You obviously recognized how many serious mistakes he made with this challenge and went about pooh-poohing them before the criticisms even started.I think he must appreciate your efforts, but I am afraid they are not what he really needs.

So, Lego, how WAS the live WS show???? Assume that is where you learned the above info?

For once, I knew the answer to this within about ten seconds. That usually happens to SDB et al, but not me, so I am tickled. [That's not a clue, which I am terrible making up, just a statement of fact.]

ViolinTeddy,The "Evening with Will Shortz" was very entertaining. Will began with a brief history of crossword puzzles, did a Q&A with the audience, and ended with an NPR on-air-puzzle-style audience participation competition in which the house was split into two teams. It was excellent. There is at least one of these "evenings with Will Shortz" on youtube. That might give you a flavor of the info, fun and games.

All they have to go on are the bare facts.Some kind of citation or cash award ought to go to that guy who wrestled the gun away from the gunman. He said he doesn't want anything but that still took courage. I know it was probably a "do or die" thing but it is still amazing.

For those who have already solved this week's NPR puzzle:I realize some of you have also already solved Puzzleria!'s Two Week Creative Challenge. It read: What very unusual property do the following questions share?1. What helps undo eskimos' overcoats? 2. Why outlaw antigun statutes?3. Who prepares ingestibles, sushi, miso?4. When do fittest hearts expire?5. Who overtaxed America's hierarchy?I am now posting the answers here so that those who may want to compose their own questions that possess the same curious and unusual property may do so:Answer:

Thanks to all for giving these a shot. Please keep trying if you are so inclined. I composed these five curious questions via sheer elbow grease... a tough slog! (As I read #4 again, it could be improved to read: "When do frailest hearts expire?") There are some I didn't post that are longer in word-length but also much farther-fetched. I found that trying to make these things up in bed at night was a better soporific than sheep counting.

The puzzles lately have been so generic and easy I’m sure you’ve come up with either the exact puzzles or variations. I wouldn’t get too worked up over it. It’s like you discovered using blue for the sky in paintings.

Those morons in Seattle never look up at the sky, they'd get rain in their eyes. Besides, they have to keep both eyes fixed on their coffee cups because their hands shake so much from caffeine induced jitters.

On a scale of 1 - 10, this was a 0. Why, because we were watching a movie by our favorite director, who happens to share the same last name with the director in the puzzle, last night. Today's puzzle took less than half a minute to solve. Now, I'm off to eat a slice...

I was ready to send my congratulations card to the royal family but when it came to addressing the envelope, I didn't know their full names. All indications point to the need of having to get a bigger card just so their names will fit. Oh well, I'll just catch them the next time!

I think most of us would agree that last week's challenge would have been better as:"Several weeks ago we had a fun puzzle that involved making the names of two animals out of rearranging the letters in Ne("drop the w") Mexico. The answer was "mice and oxen" both, of course, plural.

This week rearrange the letters of major country to find the names of two other animals, this time one singular and one plural. Then the answer instead of the clue would have been Switzerland as well as several others.

He accepted only essentially same answer as last time and offered no explanation for, or even acknowledgement of, the repeat, nor for rejecting good alternatives.

All of the possibilities that I can think of for this behavior are kind of scary.

Just read that Ford will be dropping most of their sedans in the next few years. The only cars they will be selling will be the Mustangs and a Focus hatchback.The majority of vehicles being sold will be trucks, suv's and utility vehicles.I just wonder what the car landscape will look like in 5-10 years.

As always, Ford's taking a short-term view. Oil's been cheap for a while, and they make more profit on SUVs. They'll spend a few years retooling, while oil prices continue to rise, so they can get caught with their pants down again when people start clamoring for fuel-efficient sedans.

Don’t fool yourselves, it’s no that hard to retool the plants. And notice they said the US. Ford is a global company and will have PLENTY of small cars engineered and produced in places like Europe. It’s more fluid than you think.

I LOVED my 2015 ZL1 even though it got 10 mpg (it was rated at 16 but who drives like that???). Americans will always value power and speed, right up to the apocolypse.

And don't forget: Ford Has A Bitter (sic) Idea! Too bad they can't seem to always remember when it didn't work for them previously. Those Edsel's sure were hot though, huh? Oh, and speaking of hot, how about the Ford Pinto?

I'm still pissed they discontinued the Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis. Mine is 16 years old with 124,000+ miles and still runs like it did the day it was driven off the lot. At idle you can't even tell the engine is running, even when in gear, and it never uses even a drop of oil.

I guess they can always bring back the car lines if needed. I just wonder if some car plants are going to be eliminated in the not too distant future, never to return. I just like a big car ride with some power. I have to occasionally take trips down to Tulsa, OK., on two lane highways, and nothing beats being able to easily pass the big rigs! I've got a '07 Buick with a 3.8 L engine & it still has good power, (130,000 miles). In hindsight, I should have bought the V-8! Buck Bard, I would like to take that trip just once, with a big V-8!Anyway, these days there's nothing to replace it. The cars have been downsized & big SUV's with a truck like ride are the only step up.I have been looking forward to a small truck though, for shorter trips and utility use, like the old S-10 or even a Ranger but GM & Ford bring them back as a midsize that may not even fit in my garage. Plus, the trucks come loaded with options that bring the starting prices to $40k or more. The big cars I used to like just aren't made anymore. I'll just try to keep the Buick running. SDB, glad your ol' Mercury is still performing well!

I think you ought to Jetta-son the conversation, you're starting to Beetle sense out of it. Speaking of which, I drive a Jetta; a few weeks ago was the first time I'd put gas in the car for over a year!

I'm trying to understand Navy ranks and how they correspond to equivalent ranks of Army generals.

Is Commodore an entry way to the head or higher grade? If it's the former, where does a Rear Admiral sit? And if any hanky-panky takes place would a Vice Admiral handle it? Is Commander of the Poop Deck a formal grade?

I wrote, "Remove a letter from the name of first fish and you get something traditionally served (in a particular region) with the second fish." Eel and Pie shops were more common in London of Victorian times, but you can still find a few.

Next week's challenge: This challenge comes from listener Ray Hamel of Madison, Wis. Ray writes the weekly News Quiz for Slate magazine. Name a famous player in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Take a letter out of the last name and move it into the first name. The result will name something you might see at a concert. What is it?

Over 2500 entries last week. The on-air player asked Will about PIKA and ANTS from PAKISTAN for the previous week's puzzle. Will accepted it and said he had been unaware of that answer (which means he doesn't read this blog every week).